Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from Little Dinoegg's child care centre that they noticed some rashes, red spots on his palms, wrists, feet n corner of his mouth. There was alsoa big ulcer on the inside of his right corner mouth, some red spots on the inside of his lips too. Red spots were found on his butt n groin area. He also have fever of 37.3deg. I was requested to fetch him home ASAP as they were afraid its HFMD.

Fetched Little DinoEgg and immediately fly to Dr Koh, our famly doctor of more then 10yrs as the clinic he usually goes to is closed till 7pm tonite. I cannot stand to wait so long (it was only 430pm) without knowing what is happening to him.

Dr Koh examined him while we told him what the teachers told us. Also mentioned to him that on Sun while we were at a relative's house; which is a bungalow with garden etc, he fell flat on his face on the grass, when he got up, his face, mouth n hands are covered with soil. On top of that, my relative has 4 dogs, they will do their business in that garden... though we cleaned his face n mouth, we were afraid tt whats in the soil is causing him to have negative reactions.

I only managed to search for HFMD this morning and found this;

WHAT IS HAND, FOOT, MOUTH DISEASE (HFMD)?? HFMD is a common childhood disease caused by a group of viruses known as the from the Picornaviridae family, the Coxsackie virus being one of the group. The disease is generally mild and self-limiting. However, on very rare occasions, HFMD can result in complications involving the heart and brain, thus causing death. During the local HFMD outbreak in 2000and 2001, there were 7 deaths associated with HFMD.

HOW IS HFMD SPREAD? HFMD is spread through direct contact with the saliva, feces or blister fluids of an infected person, and has been known to spread indirectly via contaminated particles. Young children, particularly those aged five years and below, are the most susceptible. Two-thirds of HFMD cases in Singapore involve patients below the age of five.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTONS OF HFMD? Common symptons of HFMD includes;1. Fever2. Sore throat3. Ulcers in the throat, mouth and tongue4. Headache5. Loss of appetite6. A rash with vesicles (small blisters 3-7mm) on the hands, feet and diaper area*These vesicles are typically on the palm side of the hands, the sole side of the feet and very characteristic in appearance

HOW ARE DOCTORS TREATING HFMD?The treatment for HFMD is generally conservative - doctors often only treat symptoms, if severe, as the disease itself is usually self-limiting, i.e the patients immune system is usually able to overcome the virus.

Little DinoEgg has got most of the symptons above, no ulcers on throat or mouth n tongue, no rash with vesicles, not sure if he got headache since he still do not know how to express himself yet.

Also read that nearly all people with HFMD recover without medical treatment. HFMD usually resolves in 7 to 10 days. There are no common complications.

Yesterday found red spots on his tummy n waist area where the diaper is. Was thinking the red spots at his diaper area n groin may be diaper rash as I did not change his diaper on Sun from 12 to 730pm. His diaper was kinda full when i changed it at 730pm.

This morning he has got fever of 37.8deg (his fever went up to 39deg around 2am), more red spots on his tummy, top of hands n feet. And also his arms n legs... This is weird n confusing me, coz all the symptons i read on web did not mention this.

Lying on the sofa watching Playhouse Disney

This morning Little DinoEgg feels abit tired, maybe due to the fever. However after I gave him the fever med, he was feeling ok, can jump n shake to the songs while watching Playhouse Disney. He did not finish his milk though, only drank 140ml out of 240ml.